Patna, Jan. 8: In a bid to ensure better service, Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) chairman P.K. Rai has issued a directive to his employees asking them to strengthen the work culture of the board.

He issued the directive after a two-day workshop attended by the board’s top management. General managers, department heads, principal officers and others made presentations in the event.

The workshop was followed by a review meeting of the energy department on Friday. Chief minister Nitish Kumar chaired it.

Rai said: “We (the board employees) have to achieve all the targets in the fields of production, transmission, supply and electrification within a stipulated timeframe so that our ultimate goal to provide electricity to everyone who needs it could be fulfilled in the next three to four years.”

Pointing out that Bihar’s average power consumption was much less than the national average because of less availability of energy in the state, he said the board would have to mend its ways of handling things. “Any lapse on the part of officials would not be tolerated,” he said in a release.

Rai admitted that there was a huge transmission and distribution loss in the state that needs to be checked. He said if the trend of losses continued, it would be difficult for the board to function in the long run.

“Electricity bills should be delivered to the consumers on time. Efforts should be put in to ensure that all the customers are given the bills as per their energy consumption. High-tension line consumers must be charged accordingly, any kind of power theft, including cases of hooking, should be stopped. Revenue realisation should be made more efficient and effective, government installations must be charged properly as well,” the chairman said.

Expressing strong displeasure over the replacement of faulty transmission lines, he said at least 25km of dilapidated electric wires must be replaced every month in each division. The officials have been directed that burnt transformers should be replaced within 24 hours in urban areas and within 72 hours in rural areas. The board chairman said the inventory stock of the transformers must be kept to get the transformers replaced quickly.

“It should be the duty of the officials to convene a meeting of consumers so that their grievances are addressed in the least possible time,” Rai said, adding that underground cable work in the state capital would have to be completed at the earliest.